Research, Reflection, Practice: A Generation of Progress: Learning from NAEP

Often referred to as “The Nation's Report Card,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was designed in the 1960s as a tool for monitoring precollege student performance in various subject areas. The original design included assessment of nine-, thirteen-, and seventeen-year-old students. The first mathematics assessment was completed in 1973 with additional mathematics assessments following at two- to fouryear intervals. In contrast to assessments like the SAT, which are usually taken by college-bound students only, NAEP is given to a sampling of all students across the United States regardless of ability or aspiration. As such, it is the best available measure of mathematics achievement for the nation as a whole (Kenney and Kloosterman 2007).